


Dear Father Christmas

by ConsultingTribble



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Adulthood, Childhood, Christmas, Christmas Presents, Father Christmas - Freeform, Friendship, Gen, Letters to Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:28:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27898306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConsultingTribble/pseuds/ConsultingTribble
Summary: What would 4-year-old Sherlock Holmes ask for in his letter to Santa/Father Christmas? What about 34-year-old Sherlock?
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes & John Watson
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	Dear Father Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> In the UK, Santa is traditionally called “Father Christmas,” although I’m told he will answer to either name. Today children can mail their letters to Father Christmas through the Royal Mail, but the original tradition was to throw the letter in the fireplace to float up the chimney and fly to the North Pole. If the letter caught fire before escaping the chimney, it had to be re-written.

## Age 4

Deer Father Crismus,

Please send me a microskope like Mycroft’s. I want to do speramints.

Sherlock

## Age 5

Deer Father Christmas,

That was not a microskope. That was a peace of microskope shaped plastic. Please try again. Mycroft wont let me use his so I need my ohn. Here is the mail order page with the item number circled so you don’t get kunfused this year. 

Sherlock

PS  
And scalpulls too, please. Mummy won’t buy me any.

## Age 6

Dear Father Christmas,

Apparently even you are subject to Mummy’s rules. How tedious. Oh well, thank you for sending the proper microscope and chemistry set last year. They work brilliantly. This year I just need refills, please.

Sherlock

## Age 7

Dear Father Christmas,

I’m older now and very responsible. (If Mycroft tells you otherwise, he’s lying; don’t listen to him.) Please send a set of proper scalpels — I should like very much to understand what happened to that bird on my windowsill. I've preserved it in the freezer until the scalpels arrive. I am attaching a mail order page again to be clear; I circled the set I need.

Sherlock

## Age 8

2431 Pemberly Way  
Bloomsbury, London  
WC1B 3DG  
UK 

5 December, 1984

Dear Father Christmas,

Thank you for the scalpels. I was going to ask for a violin this year but my parents already supplied one. Instead, do you have any invisibility cloaks available? I hear the other children talking about them at school. They describe them as magical, but I believe the physics to be theoretically plausible. I would like to use one to make more accurate observations without influencing my subjects. I have not seen such a cloak advertised so I cannot send you a mail order page this year, but in case you have connections, that is my Christmas wish.

Yours Sincerely,  
Sherlock Holmes

PS  
I promise not to do anything illegal while wearing the cloak.  
PPS  
Anything _too_ illegal... 

## Age 9

2431 Pemberly Way  
Bloomsbury, London  
WC1B 3DG  
UK

1 December, 1985

Dear Father Christmas,

This year I would like a violin maintenance kit, please. I need to polish the wood and will soon be ready to replace two of the strings.

The other children at school say you’re not real, and that all the gifts really come from our parents. While I believe adults to be more than capable of such deception, I am collecting my own evidence before deciding on the truth. 

I agree that your alleged method of delivery is far-fetched, but there are many things I have not yet learned about top-secret government technology, quantum physics, and so on, so applying the label “impossible” at this juncture would be premature. I also know that I have carefully observed my parents’ shopping trips and parcel deliveries for years and detected no evidence that they are purchasing the gifts labeled as being from you. 

By my calculations, the probability of my parents being clever enough to outwit me is approximately as low as the probability that the Father Christmas stories are all true. I am therefore continuing to collect evidence until I can rule out one of these answers. Once I eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. Until that time, I shall continue to write.

Yours Sincerely,  
Sherlock Holmes

## Age 10

2431 Pemberly Way  
Bloomsbury, London  
WC1B 3DG  
UK

6 December, 1986

Dear Father Christmas,

Mycroft caught me writing to you yesterday and made fun, so I shredded that letter. I’m writing again and sending this one up the chimney so he won’t see it in the outgoing post. I’m also coating several other papers in various chemicals so they burn exotic colors in the fireplace while this one escapes to you. I can tell him it’s an experiment and hope he doesn’t deduce my true motives.

Thank you for sending the annual refill kits for my science work and violin care. What I really need this year is harder to find. I need a friend. I need someone to talk to about my work, someone who will appreciate my ideas. The other kids at school can’t keep up with me and Mycroft is gone most of the time. Please send someone if you can.

Yours Sincerely,  
Sherlock Holmes

## Age 11

2431 Pemberly Way  
Bloomsbury, London  
WC1B 3DG  
UK

4 December, 1987

Dear Father Christmas,

Maybe that was too non-specific an order last year. You seem to do better with catalog numbers, but there is none for what I need. I will attempt a more detailed description instead. 

As you know, the frailty of genius is that it needs an audience. Mycroft says sentiment is a chemical defect found on the losing side, so perhaps I shouldn’t call this person a ‘friend,’ only a companion or partner. I need someone who will see and value my work, who will ask the right questions to keep me right when my mind starts spinning, and who will help spark new ideas when I get bored. Someone who will never call me mean names. In return, I could teach them all about deductions and chemistry. 

This is really my only wish this year.  
Please?

Yours Sincerely,  
Sherlock Holmes

## Age 12

3 December, 1988

Dear Father Christmas,

Maybe the other kids were right after all and you have no magic. Thanks for the chemistry refills at least. My previous wish still stands.

Yours Sincerely,  
Sherlock Holmes

## Age 13

Dear Father Christmas,

What are you good for, anyway? I can buy my own chemistry refills now. Don’t bother with our house this year.

Sherlock

## Age 14...  
Age 15...  
Age 16...  


(silence)

## Age 34

221B Baker St  
Marylebone, London  
NW1 6XE  
UK

1 December, 2010

Dear Father Christmas,

I retract everything I said in my last three letters. Your timing seemed tedious by the standards of youth, but your precision more than compensates for it. Now that I’ve met him, I understand what a truly unique gift he is and why he wasn’t available for you to deliver until this year. He is everything I wished for and more. 

Much more than an audience, more than a sounding board, even more than a partner or companion, his friendship has changed my entire life for the better. He sees me, understands me, balances me, and enriches my world in ways even I never dreamed possible. When I asked you to send me a friend, I realize now that what I had in mind was a piece of cut glass, and instead you have sent me the most exquisite diamond in existence.

As long as he’s here, I truly can’t imagine what else to ask from you. My wish has come true. Thank you, Father Christmas, for sending me John Watson.

Yours Most Sincerely,  
Sherlock Holmes

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! As always, kudos, comments, and constructive feedback are very much appreciated!


End file.
